Method and Apparatus for Providing a Notification Mechanism

1. A method comprising: causing provision of a notification bar at an edge of a touch screen display in response to an occurrence of an event, the notification bar providing information indicative of the event; enabling, responsive to user input, extension of the notification bar away from the edge of the touch screen display to display a first level associated with a notification class from among a plurality of notification classes, wherein dynamic criteria defines the notification class to be included in the first level based upon a statistical probability that the content of the notification class included in the first level will be used; and causing presentation of the notification bar to remain in an extended position away from the edge of the touch screen display so as to display the first level upon cessation of the user input, wherein enabling extension of the notification bar comprises enabling extension of the notification bar to expose the first level responsive to a drag operation extending the notification bar to at least a threshold drag length corresponding to the first level, a further level associated with a different notification class being exposed in response to a further, separate and distinct, user input while the notification bar is extended comprising a drag operation in a retracting direction to expose a second level not previously exposed.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing an indication of existence of a subsequent level by causing a display of a partial preview of a next level in connection with expanding the notification bar to expose a current level.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification classes include notifications regarding additional events or available items associated with corresponding different levels.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing provision of the notification bar further comprises causing provision of a bobbing action of the notification bar indicating further available content at other levels.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic criteria that defines the one or more notification classes included in the respective level is based upon a statistical probability that one or more application shortcuts will be employed in response to or proximate in time to a most recent event or that the content will be statistically most commonly used.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing, and responsive to exposure of each level that has a subsequent level thereafter, an indication of existence of the subsequent level that includes one or more different notification classes relative to the notification classes of the one or more levels that are displayed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling further extension of the notification bar to display a second level, separate from the first level, including one or more application shortcuts, wherein enabling extension and further extension of the notification bar comprises the first level to be displayed prior to causing the second level including the one or more application shortcuts to be displayed, and wherein the dynamic criteria defines the one or more application shortcuts included in the second level based upon the application shortcuts that are most commonly employed.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein enabling further extension of the notification bar comprises causing one or more additional levels of notification classes to be presented following the display of the second level including one or more application shortcuts.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein enabling further extension of the notification bar comprises causing the second level of one or more application shortcuts to be displayed at a leading edge of notification bar followed by the first level.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: enabling further extension of the notification bar in order to cause one or more additional levels of notification classes to be displayed; and causing a respective level including a respective notification class to be closed in response to a selection by a user while one or more other levels of notification classes continue to be displayed.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein causing a respective level to be closed comprises closing the respective level including the respective notification class in response to user selection of an item from the respective notification class.

12. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least: cause provision of a notification bar at an edge of a touch screen display in response to an occurrence of an event, the notification bar providing information indicative of the event; enable, responsive to user input, extension of the notification bar away from the edge of the touch screen display to display a first level associated with a notification class from among a plurality of notification classes, wherein dynamic criteria defines the notification class to be included in the first level based upon a statistical probability that the content of the notification class included in the first level will be used; and cause presentation of the notification bar to remain in an extended position away from the edge of the touch screen display so as to display the first level upon cessation of the user input, wherein enablement of the extension of the notification bar comprises enabling extension of the notification bar to expose the first level responsive to a drag operation extending the notification bar to at least a threshold drag length corresponding to the first level, a further level associated with a different notification class being exposed in response to a further, separate and distinct, user input while the notification bar is extended comprising a drag operation in a retracting direction to expose a second level not previously exposed.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause an apparatus to cause the indication of existence of a subsequent level by causing a display of a partial preview of a next level in connection with expanding the notification bar to expose a current level.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the notification classes include notifications regarding additional events or available items associated with corresponding different levels.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to cause provision of the notification bar further by causing provision of a bobbing action of the notification bar indicating further available content at other levels.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the dynamic criteria that defines the one or more notification classes included in the respective level is based upon a statistical probability that one or more application shortcuts will be employed in response to or proximate in time to a most recent event or that the content will be statistically most commonly used.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to cause, responsive to exposure of each level that has a subsequent level thereafter, an indication of existence of the subsequent level that includes one or more different notification classes relative to the notification classes of the one or more levels that are displayed.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to enable further extension of the notification bar to display a second level, separate from the first level, including one or more application shortcuts, wherein enabling extension and further extension of the notification bar comprises the first level to be displayed prior to causing the second level including the one or more application shortcuts to be displayed, and wherein the dynamic criteria defines the one or more application shortcuts included in the second level based upon the application shortcuts that are most commonly employed.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to enable further extension of the notification bar by causing one or more additional levels of notification classes to be presented following the display of the second level including one or more application shortcuts.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to enable further extension of the notification bar by causing the second level of one or more application shortcuts to be displayed at a leading edge of notification bar followed by the first level.

21. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: enable further extension of the notification bar in order to cause one or more additional levels of notification classes to be displayed; and cause a respective level including a respective notification class to be closed in response to a selection by a user while one or more other levels of notification classes continue to be displayed.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to cause a respective level to be closed by closing the respective level including the respective notification class in response to user selection of an item from the respective notification class.

23. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions to: enable, responsive to user input, extension of the notification bar away from the edge of the touch screen display to display a first level associated with a notification class from among a plurality of notification classes, wherein dynamic criteria defines the notification class to be included in the first level based upon a statistical probability that the content of the notification class included in the first level will be used; and cause presentation of the notification bar to remain in an extended position away from the edge of the touch screen display so as to display one or more levels of notification classes upon cessation of the user input, wherein the extended position is the first level upon cessation of the user input, wherein enablement of the extension of the notification bar comprises enabling extension of the notification bar to expose the first level responsive to a drag operation extending the notification bar to at least a threshold drag length corresponding to the first level, a further level associated with a different notification class being exposed in response to a further, separate and distinct, user input while the notification bar is extended comprising a drag operation in a retracting direction to expose a second level not previously exposed.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification class of one level includes one or more messaging applications and the notification class of another level includes at least one of informational notices, currently running applications, available applications or a predefined set of application shortcuts.

25. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the notification class of one level includes one or more messaging applications and the notification class of another level includes at least one of informational notices, currently running applications, available applications or a predefined set of application shortcuts.

26. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to cause, responsive to exposure of each level that has a subsequent level thereafter, an indication of existence of the subsequent level that includes one or more different notification classes relative to the notification classes of the one or more levels that are displayed.

27. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to enable further extension of the notification bar to display a second level, separate from the first level, including one or more application shortcuts, wherein enabling extension and further extension of the notification bar comprises the first level to be displayed prior to causing the second level including the one or more application shortcuts to be displayed, and wherein the dynamic criteria defines the one or more application shortcuts included in the second level based upon the application shortcuts that are most commonly employed.

28. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions to: enable further extension of the notification bar in order to cause one or more additional levels of notification classes to be displayed; and cause a respective level including a respective notification class to be closed in response to a selection by a user while one or more other levels of notification classes continue to be displayed.